This airy rooftop apartment located in London’s sought-after area of Shoreditch has been realised by the British practice Tonkin Liu. Built atop an old brick warehouse, the two-storey family house boasts six bedrooms, a play area, a living room and a terrace enclosed with fragrant climbers while its fine-white-mesh and galvanised-steel façade ‘mirrors the changing colour of the sky and captures light and shadows.’

Roof Garden Apartment by Tonkin Liu; photo by Mike Tonkin

About the project:

‘On top of a warehouse in Shoreditch an empty roof overlooked the city. The brief was for a six-bedroom family house with outdoor spaces that maximised the potentials of the site. The owners wanted a place for the family to grow that would bring life and greenery to the Shoreditch cityscape. The existing brick warehouse structure was damaged and rebuilt after the war. The central columns were not adequate to take any additional loads. The load of the new building had to be delivered to the perimeter walls. From a ring beam at roof level the structure grows up to forms a transfer structure at high level from which the new building is hung. On the gable and party walls and within the floor slabs the frame is braced within the timber substructure. To the south and west a 7m tall loggia is formed by the external structure, framing the view of the city. ‘

Roof Garden Apartment by Tonkin Liu; photo by Mike Tonkin

‘The house is entered via a bridge that comes from a neighbouring building. The lower floor is divided into 5 bedrooms and a play area with a sunken conversation pit. All the rooms open out onto a terrace enclosed with planting. The main living space is a tall room on the upper level. In the centre of the space a tower, housing the polycarbonate bathroom, rises up through the structure to bring in light. Patterns of rain are projected onto the floor by lighting the skylight from the roof level. To the west the master bedroom can be closed off with a giant sliding door. A cantilevered balcony overlooks the city to the south. A spiral staircase leads up to the green roof, the solar collectors and a large roof deck surrounded by fragrant planting. ‘